Falchion

I decided to make a robotic hand out of simple materials (here is the project summary:http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Robotics_p003.shtml) and I need some help programming the fingers so I can get them to move. What I want it to do involves picking up a chess piece and placing it in its designated spot. I have very little programming experience, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could explain it in basic terms.

Wow this is a biggy for a starting point..... but nothing quite like jumping in the deep end!

That site says:

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Once you have your robot hand

which makes that part sound pretty simple. Have you got that far yet?- ie the mechanical part?

My advice is to grab your Arduino and work through the simple examples on this site, such as good old Blink. Then grab a servo and a potentiometer and work through the two servo examples, namely Sweep and Knob.

I really think that to start, you have to get your mind how an Arduino program hangs together and how a servo is controlled.

First Things First....

Edit... by the way, to get the hand to move to a point is more than just building and programming the hand. A hand, to be useful, needs to be on an arm, that's another 4-5 servos and some fairly major construction. Not to mention the logic and sensing involved in knowing where QB4 is on the board....

There is usually a three wire connection coming out of a servo into a small plug with holes for 3 connectors- usually red and black for 5v and ground, and yellow or orange for the control. You need to stick wires (preferably with pins on the end) into those sockets and take them to the power supply and Arduino pin. You can see the 3 way plug clearly in this pic of your servo.

You may find that standard size servo a bit big especially if you have 5 of them next to each other. Might be an idea to consider a micro servo like this.

Edit.... you should have a look at DuaneB's acclaimed servo tutorials here and here.

I got the red wire out successfully, and when I put it into 5V, it felt pretty loose. Is it supposed to feel that way?

I'm really not sure what you're saying here.

"Pete, it's a fool (who) looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart." Ulysses Everett McGill.Do not send technical questions via personal messaging - they will be ignored.I speak for myself, not Arduino.

I got the red wire out successfully, and when I put it into 5V, it felt pretty loose. Is it supposed to feel that way?

Note that the arduino can sometimes, depending on the servo, just about manage to power one. For the multiple ones you're going to need, you'll need a separate power supply for the servos. DuaneB's tutorials mentioned above should help you with how to wire them up.

Well normally at this stage of your project, you'd be more likely to use some breadboarding wire to stick into the servo's socket and then attach those wires to whatever is going to power the servo - which should not be the arduino - it can't provide sufficient current for more than one, if that.

Later you might wire it up using a male connector into the servo's socket so that it's easier to replace the servo from your robot if it is damaged, or solder it all together if you decide you don't need that luxury.

Falchion

Well normally at this stage of your project, you'd be more likely to use some breadboarding wire to stick into the servo's socket and then attach those wires to whatever is going to power the servo - which should not be the arduino - it can't provide sufficient current for more than one, if that.

Later you might wire it up using a male connector into the servo's socket so that it's easier to replace the servo from your robot if it is damaged, or solder it all together if you decide you don't need that luxury.

For initial experiments, I searched around my house for an old wallwart in the right range - 6-7 volts IIRC. The ones I found didn't provide enough current for more than a couple of servos though. You may need to buy (or build) something that provides more juice. Even though your robot sounds like it will be stationary, you might look at lipo batteries to avoid the need for acquiring what would effectively be a beefier wallwart.